All stories contain a certain architecture. To understand your story, learn how to “beat it out.”

All stories contain a certain architecture. To understand your story, learn how to “beat it out.”

by | Jul 26, 2021 | Slow Pieces Blog

Last weekend I had the privilege of speaking at the 44th annual Compassionate Friends Conference. For those of you unfamiliar with this organization, Compassionate Friends supports parents, grandparents, siblings, and others as they grieve. 

The conference was an opportunity to bear witness to some heartfelt grief stories, share my own, and immerse myself in the conversations people are having around loss, acceptance, and letting go. 

Grief is a story we live. Sometimes the pain is so profound, it’s like crawling through a reedy swamp. The going is messy and slow; it’s hard to see what’s ahead. 

This lived story has an architecture that’s frequently represented by stages or seasons. There are common experiences that happen during the early, middle, and later stages. Along the way, people grow. 

When you’re hurting, it can be difficult to know what stage you’re in or how to make it to the next one. 

While I would never conflate grief with storytelling, writers frequently experience similar struggles. The process of writing a story can feel overwhelming. We can get so attached to the words on the page or so mired in what they mean, that our revision process feels slow and messy, and it can be hard to see what’s ahead. 

As writers, we can turn to Blake Snyder and Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need for support. 

So far, we’ve talked about loglines and building the perfect character. 

“Let’s Beat It Out!” is likely Snyder’s most popular chapter. In it, he discusses the three-act structure (which he describes as thesis, antithesis, and synthesis) and then shares his invaluable beat sheet where he maps out the moments every story needs. He even gives you page numbers so you’ll know precisely where certain elements should occur. 

The page numbers he refers to are based on the screenplay, which is always one hundred ten pages. You can simply extrapolate based on the size of your manuscript. 

Because I want you to read this invaluable chapter, I’m only going to talk about one of its many important points: The Six Things that Need to Be Fixed. 

The first act of a story establishes the ordinary world. This is the world before the big, life-altering event that catapults your character onto their quest. Act one always ends on a plot point that’s frequently called the point of no return. 

In The Fellowship of the Ring, the point of no return is the moment when Gandalf tells Frodo his uncle’s ring is the One Ring forged by the evil Lord Sauron.

In The Hunger Games, it’s when the game begins. 

In The Glass Castle, it’s when Jeanette Walls’s family arrives in Welch, West Virginia. 

Most writers struggle with the first act. Some find the revision process downright painful. They worry about what to include and how much backstory to share. 

That’s where Snyder’s Six Things that Need Fixing come in handy. 

Snyder’s phrase “stands for the laundry list you must show—repeat SHOW—the audience of what is missing in the hero’s life. Like little bombs, these Six Things that Need Fixing, these character tics and flaws, will be exploded later in the script, turned on their heads, and cured.” 

He uses the Tom Hanks movie Big as his first example. At the beginning of the movie, our main character, Josh Baskin, isn’t tall enough to ride a certain ride. He’s awkward around girls and he sees being a kid as a total drag. 

The point of no return occurs when Josh’s wish to be big is granted. 

At first this is grand, but eventually, those things that need fixing show up in hilarious ways.

In the final act, those six things are what get resolved.

He realizes being big isn’t as great as he originally thought. Even adults struggle with girls, and while adults might be able to do what they want, that freedom comes with responsibility. 

Snyder maps additional movies so you can see their beats and how each screenwriter tackles his concepts. 

These beats can work for all prose genres, including memoir.

If you’re struggling with how to tackle your opening, or you’re trying to revise a first act that’s too long (psst: if it’s over 70 pages, it’s probably too long!), read the chapter then ask yourself the following questions:

What six things need fixing in my main character’s life? 

What act-one scenes illustrate these problems? 

If more than one scene illustrates the same problem, which one is essential?  

While some scenes plant an important seed that blossoms later in the story, many scenes that serve the same purpose can be deleted. 

Cutting those scenes might feel painful at first, but your story will be stronger, which will increase your reader’s satisfaction. 

It’s hard to believe, but we’ve reached summer’s halfway point. I’m heading to the beach for a little R & R, so I’ll see you soon. 

While I’m gone, consider what stories you’re currently living out. 

How do they impact your writing life and the stories you tell? 

How are you caring for yourself as you live them? 

Heroes are only as strong as their urges. Learn what can make a good protagonist great.

Heroes are only as strong as their urges. Learn what can make a good protagonist great.

by | Jul 13, 2021 | Slow Pieces Blog

Over the weekend I went to an old-school arcade filled with the video games I played as a kid—Ms. Pacman, Galaga, Kangaroo. For twelve bucks, I could fight as many arcade bosses as I wanted and play pinball until my pointer finger ached. 

Walking into that steamy, dark room was like stepping back into my childhood. 

Only this time, I’d entered my kid version of heaven. 

Be still my Gen-Xer heart! 

My adult version of heaven is a story that works. And for around twelve bucks, Blake Snyder is showing me how to make that happen.

Last week, we explored the ingredients in a good logline, and why it might be better to create one before you write.

Once you’ve finalized your logline, your next task is to figure out who the story is about.

Snyder says, “a market-tested logline proves you have a story, but the hero is what makes the story work better.” 

Your hero, or protagonist, is the person who “faces the most conflicts and has the longest way to go emotionally.” They’re also the person who needs to change the most. 

Snyder says readers “want you to tell them stories about characters who

  • they can identify with, 
  • they can learn from,
  • they have compelling reasons to follow,
  • they believe deserve to win,
  • and have stakes that ring true for them.”

Once you know who this person is, you need to give them a dramatic need. Snyder’s advice: go primal. “Think survival, hunger, sex, protection of loved ones, or fear of death.” Because “primal urges get our attention,” he encourages you to make your stakes primal too. 

As part of his explanation, Snyder uses the logline for the movie Ride Along. “A risk-averse teacher plans on marrying his dream girl but must first accompany his overprotective future brother-in-law—a cop—on the ride from hell.”  

This pitch is double primal. The teacher wants to marry his fiancé (sex) but first, he has to survive a life-threatening test (death). 

When it comes to who you “cast” in your story, Snyder says we connect with characters we can relate to. In his list, he includes “husbands and wives, fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, and ex-boyfriends and girlfriends.” That doesn’t mean your characters and stories must fit this mold but consider the roles your characters play.

For example, if a boy hero befriends a dragon, is the dragon a buddy, surrogate parent, sibling, or something else?  

Snyder says it’s also helpful to apply some Jungian archetypal roles to your characters. Archetypes are images and themes that arise from the collective unconscious. They show up in the dreams, literature, and art of most cultures. 

Psychoanalyst Carl Jung identified twelve archetypes that show up in literature. You can find them here.

You can also study the works of Joseph Campbell, who wrote extensively about the hero’s journey and its archetypes.

Inspired by Jung and Campbell, Snyder created his own list of archetypes for the cinema. 

While Snyder makes some important points in this chapter, his archetypes and the “cast of characters we related to” focus solely on traditional gender roles and assignments that are a bit outdated. They don’t take into account the diversity of experiences readers might have and they might not represent yourreaders.

For instance, Snyder talks about Hollywood’s obsession with youth and encourages writers to cast young, “demographically pleasing” characters (whatever that last term means), because young people are the ones generating box office sales.

When it comes to book sales, that’s not always true. 

While the average age of readers for genres like YA and horror is fairly young, the average science fiction, fantasy, romance, and memoir reader is in their mid-forties. That’s why it’s important to understand the readers of your genre. 

Instead of canceling Snyder, I encourage you to read his work with a grain of salt.

Use his book to find out what’s been cinematically successful and why, then if it speaks to you, use your own writing to successfully turn those archetypes and roles on their heads. 

So, what do you know about your characters? 

What are their primal needs? 

What roles do they play? 

What archetypes can you come up with to augment or counter Snyder’s list? 

Whether the sun is shining in your part of the world, or you’re enduring the heart of winter, take time to play and celebrate your life.  

After you’ve found a little joy, return to your writing desk.

Your stories are waiting for you. 

Do the words logline or elevator pitch make you cringe? Use Blake Snyder’s three ingredients to create a winning pitch.

Do the words logline or elevator pitch make you cringe? Use Blake Snyder’s three ingredients to create a winning pitch.

by | Jul 6, 2021 | Slow Pieces Blog

What’s your book/essay/short story/project about? 

This is the question authors are most frequently asked. 

But how do you distill art into a few lines—especially when you’re mid-project?

Most writers, including myself, tighten their neck scarves when hearing the words logline or elevator pitch. The stakes can feel so high—especially if you’ve worked for years to create something.

To keep the stakes low, Blake Snyder, belated author of Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need, believed writers should create their loglines before writing their first word. 

Whether you agree with him or not, learning to craft a logline or elevator pitch is an important skill all writers must learn. Effectively summarizing your work will help you understand your story and spend less time awkwardly rambling to fellow writers and agents.  

You don’t need to become a screenwriter to learn from Save the Cat! In fact, I encourage all fiction writers and memoirists to study screenwriting. It helps you develop lean, page-turning prose. 

According to Save the Cat! all pitches must contain irony, a compelling mental picture, and a killer title.  

Irony

When summarizing your story, think about the protagonist’s main conflict and the stakes for failing to achieve their goal. Ask yourself the following questions: What does my character want above all else? How do they change? What are they afraid of? 

You don’t have to stuff everything into your logline, but the stakes and conflict should be baked into your sentence. 

Here are a few movie examples Snyder shares in his book.

“A newly married couple must spend Christmas Day at each of their four divorced parents’ homes—4 Christmases”

“A just-hired employee goes on a company weekend and soon discovers someone’s trying to kill him—The Retreat”

After identifying your conflict and stakes, your next job is to look for irony or a major plot twist we wouldn’t ordinarily expect. 

According to Snyder, “irony gets [your] attention…. it hooks you with interest.” 

Here’s another one of Snyder’s examples:  

“Businessman falls in love with the hooker he hires to be his date for the weekend—Pretty Woman” 

To build irony into your plot, ask yourself the following questions: 

  • What does the audience expect to happen?
  • What wouldn’t they see coming? 
  • What reversal could I insert into a key plot point that capitalizes on my audience’s expectations? 

 
 If your current draft is low on irony, crafting a logline with a plot twist can help you create a more satisfying narrative arc.

Struggling to come up with ideas? Check out this blog post on twelve ironic situations.

Compelling Mental Picture 

According to Snyder, “the second most important element that a good longline has is that you must be able to see a whole movie in it. Like Proust’s madeleine, a good logline, once said, blossoms in your brain.”

He uses the pitch for Blind Date as an example. “She’s the perfect woman—until she has a drink.” 

Even if you don’t like the premise, I bet you can imagine the potential hijinks. 

As you create your pitch, think about how you can establish a situation that creates a visual image that blossoms in the reader’s head. 

A Killer Title 

The last ingredient for a good logline is a killer title. Snyder says the logline and title are “the one-two punch that makes a good sale.” A good title should “nail the concept without being so on the nose it’s stupid.” 

Here are a few examples: 

Legally Blonde
The Silence of the Lambs
Fast and Furious
Se7en

If the story has already been written, search your document for the most compelling lines. Many great titles have been found inside their manuscripts. If you’re working strictly from a logline, make a list of contenders then pitch them to friends and see which one fits Snyder’s definition. But don’t let yourself get stuck. You can always change the title once your project has been written. 

Synder considered the world his test market and regularly pitched coffee shop patrons while waiting for his latte. As he shared his ideas, he paid attention to the listener’s reactions. Wide eyes and questions, he had a winner.  Yawns or shifty looks, he moved on to his next pitch.

If cold pitching in a coffee shop sounds daunting, consider attending a writing conference. Conference attendees are nice people who will be genuinely interested in hearing about your work. They won’t shun you for a bad pitch. Instead, they’ll ask questions that help you devise a better one. Plus, listening to other writers’ loglines can serve as inspiration.  

If you’re interested in a couple of great conferences, consider HippoCamp or the James River Writers Conference. You can also check out AWP’s conference directory to see what’s happening in your area. 

Because loglines take practice, creating them for books and movies you love can help you build the skills needed to create your own. 

And, if you don’t have any works in progress, Snyder has some great suggestions. 

Here’s an exercise from the chapter titled “What Is It?”: 

“Pick a drama, thriller, or horror film and turn it into a comedy. Example: Funny Christine – The haunted dream car of a teenage boy that ruins his life now becomes a comedy when the car starts giving him dating advice.” 

 If you’ve purchased the book, try some of his exercises then pitch me one of your ideas. I’d love to see what you come up with.

Who knows—the outcome might lead to a new project.

If you’ve spent time in the logline-writing trenches, what obstacles did you face? 

If you’ve successfully completed one, what advice do you have for other writers?  

And, if you’re feeling unmotivated right now, you’re not alone. Burnout is currently rampant. Take time to step away from your work and your computer screen. Rest. Find unique ways to enjoy your days and trust that your writing life will be there when you’re ready to reconnect with it. 

 Need a quick pick me up? Check out NPR’s Joy Generator. 
 
 

How to Rewire Your Brain and Your Writing Experiences

How to Rewire Your Brain and Your Writing Experiences

by | Jun 22, 2021 | Slow Pieces Blog

On Saturday, my husband and I made our annual trek up to Seamans’ Orchard. I never tire of their spectacular mountain views or their berries. 

Each year, we pick around twenty pounds of fruit then scarf down as much as we can. The rest ends up in our freezer.

Halfway through our berry picking, a family arrived. The mother and her four-year-old daughter claimed the row in front of me. The father and baby walked the row just beyond them. I love listening to the reactions children have when picking berries for the first time, so I cocked my ear in their direction. 

The little girl scampered along the blueberry bushes and called to her sister “tater” whenever she found a “blue one.” She delighted in all the “samples” she found.

Apparently, she was also a big fan of farting. Every few minutes she excitedly asked if anyone was ready to let out a stinker. 

I admired her confidence and easy joy. She reminded me that sometimes life is that simple. 

You pick a berry, eat it, and smile. 

Brené Brown says joy is the most vulnerable emotion. It requires us to completely let go.

When life gets difficult, letting go can feel dangerous. Afraid to let down our guard, we armor up, hoping to prevent future pain. But that never works. 

Wherever we go, life follows. 

Anne Lamott calls earth a forgiveness school. 

If she’s right, then painful events are our teachers. 

Some faith traditions talk about the power of spiritual discomfort and how dis-ease fuels our desires and dreams. Along the journey toward something better, we grow. In this way, pain is our ally. 

But it doesn’t have to dominate our experiences. 

I’m currently reading the memoir Swing by Ashleigh Renard. Toward the end of the book, the narrator starts writing love letters to herself. In them, she re-envisions her experiences. Last month I finished a class that included a similar practice. 

The instructor said writing new endings for our experiences is as effective as experiencing a different outcome. Both create new neural networks. In fact, the brain doesn’t know the difference between a rewrite and a new event. 

In other words, my graduate school mentor was right. We can’t change the past, but we can change the story we tell about it. 

During this month’s newsletter series, I’ve talked about the importance of recommitting to your why, sharing your work for the fun of it, and giving yourself permission to share your first draft work.

Here’s my final invitation: write a love letter to yourself. 

Think back on a writing challenge you’ve faced, whether it’s a rejection, writer’s block, or a nasty thing your asshole internal editor said. Write the original version so the story no longer lives in your head. Then rewrite it so the outcome is positive. 

Here’s my rewrite of The Doozy I mentioned at the beginning of the month.

Dear Lisa, 

What an engaging read! I see how hard you’ve worked to turn this painful experience into art. Your grief is palpable, and yet it’s tempered by a healthy dose of humor. I laughed out loud when reading about some of your character’s antics. And boy do I love Klaus! 

I’d like to partner with you as we prepare this story for publication. I think it’s one of many books you’ll write across your career, which I’d like to represent. 

Sincerely, 

Agent who loves your writing 

See? It really is that simple. 

What would you like to rewrite? 

What will it take for you to try this experiment? 

After you’ve re-envisioned your experience, send me an email, and let me know how it feels.

I’d love to hear about the new neural networks you created. 

You and your writing are worth the effort.

Keep writing on! 

Procrastination can sneak up on you. Break the cycle by sharing with other writers in this unique way.

Procrastination can sneak up on you. Break the cycle by sharing with other writers in this unique way.

by | Jun 16, 2021 | Slow Pieces Blog

Two days ago, I bought a new bathing suit. 

I’d kept the last one until it dry rotted. 

I know. 

Ew. 

I hate shopping in general. Bathing suit shopping exists in a level of hell that includes Chuck E. Cheese, ingrown toenails, and organizing closets. 

The dressing room lights bring out The Adams Family in my skin. 

The funhouse mirrors reveal every flaw. 

It seems like most suits have some weird ruffle or thing that’s probably going to chafe or dig into my skin. 

So, I avoid this nightmare until it’s clear my old suit is done. 

Sometimes we treat our important writing projects the same way.

 We fill our writing calendars with “legit” work like easy-to-publish essays, work projects, or classes to beef up our skills. Sometimes we workshop our friend’s stories because they need us. Or we churn out blog posts. 

Being told our work is less than stellar or entering a high-stakes part of the writing process like finishing a long project, querying, or preparing to go on submission can cause a spike in our tactical avoidance maneuvers. 

How can you tell the difference between legit work and procrastination? 

When you’re in balance, you prioritize appropriately. 

When you’re procrastinating, you feel an urgent need to work on a certain project but believe there’s too much else to do.

Most of the projects on your must-do lists are for other people or they’re lower on your if-I-were-to-die-tomorrow priority list. 

But there are things you can do to break this cycle. 

Last week, I shared a piece I wrote for The Keepthings. The week before, I talked about the importance of persevering.

This week, I want you to lower your project’s stakes by sharing some shitty first drafts with other writers. Schedule a gathering IRL or on Zoom. Set a timer for twenty minutes. Then write. No editing. Definitely no crossing things out. When time’s up, read what you’ve written to the group. Give each other positive feedback using the Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA) Method. 

I teach entire classes based on this method. 

During these sessions, writers experience the power of sharing raw and vulnerable first-draft work. Many discover the sneaky ways their internal editors lie to them. They leave with a sense of confidence and rekindle their creative joy. 

I worked in a group like this for seven years. Most of the pieces created during these sessions were like sandcastles at high tide. Flipping the page washed the idea’s power away. But several of my published pieces came from these meetings. 

The process taught me that showing up is all we need to do. 

The rest will work itself out. 

Last week I found myself choosing “legit” work over my memoir. 

I soon discovered that fear had amped my procrastination up to eleven.  

So, I scheduled a meditative writing session with a group of my favorite peeps. 

As soon as the meeting was on my calendar, I got back to work. 

Often, we give the experiences we fear—the rejections, the iterations that aren’t quite right, the moments of discouragement—too much power.  

But like bathing suit shopping, they’re survivable. 

Trying again and again in a low-stakes environment can stamp this lesson onto your bones. 

It took nine tries to find the right bathing suit. But I bought one.

Completing that task freed my mental energy to focus on more valuable things, like my memoir. 

What do you hate doing? 

How do you avoid your most important writing projects? 

What helps you get back on track? 

This Little Trick Will Add a Dash of Joy to Your Writing Life.

This Little Trick Will Add a Dash of Joy to Your Writing Life.

by | Jun 8, 2021 | Slow Pieces Blog

Last week, I revealed the doldrums I’ve faced while trying to publish my work.  My goal was to shed light on the process and normalize the struggles we all encounter. In that post, I also suggested some strategies that help me persevere.

Here’s another invitation: share your work with other people just for the fun of it.

Do it because having readers is the whole reason we write.

Let it bring you joy and connection with those who need your stories.

The following is an excerpt from my memoir-in-progress. It was originally published on The Keepthings, an Instagram curated by O Magazine editor Deborah Way.

The piece was inspired by a book my brother gave me (see the featured image and the photo below).

If you haven’t checked out Deborah’s gorgeous posts, do it right now.

Better yet, follow The Keepthings, read a post, and leave a comment. This literary citizenship will make you and the poster feel so good. And, wouldn’t it be nice to interact with an esteemed editor like Deborah Way? 
 

Art in Focus 

My graduation party had just ended. I stood in my mother’s kitchen doorway, counting down the hours until I left home for college in Louisville, Kentucky. At eighteen, I had eyes for nothing but a future that lay 600 miles away.

My brother Joe walked up behind me and tapped my shoulder. Even though he was only sixteen, he towered above me. Yet when he tapped me again, it was like he’d grown small. He beckoned me to the bedroom he’d shared with my other brother, his twin, before they moved in with our father. Touching the wall, I thought of all the bands the three of us had listened to in that room. Ozzy Osbourne. Anthrax. Metallica. A single bed and dresser had been set up after they left.

“Here.” The space was so empty, Joe’s voice echoed. He looked away as he dropped Art in Focus and a TI-81 graphing calculator into my hands. He claimed the calculator had been lying in an empty hallway. Art in Focus, he’d stolen from our high school’s art department.

These were two of only a handful of gifts Joe had given me over the course of our lives. He knew I couldn’t afford the hundred-dollar graphing calculator required for my upcoming calculus class. But why would he think I’d want some old high-school textbook?
He pointed to Art in Focus and said, “Open it.”

I did. In the “Property Of” grid stamped on the book’s inside cover was my name, where I’d dutifully written it in when I took art history in the fall. Joe had taken the same class in spring.

“We had the same fucking book! You believe that shit?” He ran his finger over the white space where his own name should have appeared.

I chewed the inside of my cheek, unsure whether to accept stolen goods.

Then he clasped his hands over mine. “Now you can take part of me to college.”

Later that night, I tucked the textbook and calculator into my suitcase. All freshman year, I carried them in my backpack, comforted by the weight of their presence—his presence—especially on days when the future didn’t live up to my dreams.

In an art class, I learned that white space is also called negative space. It’s an essential part of a composition that often amplifies the subject. But sometimes negative space becomes the composition’s subject.

Joe visited Louisville twice before he ended his life. On both visits, I planned to have him fill the “Property Of” blank with his signature. But fun times always eclipsed that task. So now every time I touch the book, I open the front cover and swipe my finger across the blank line that he once touched.

 

So, which one of your possessions has a story to tell?

Who needs to read it?

Once you’ve shared your story, send me an email. I’d love to hear what you felt and what you learned.

And keep writing your precious stories. Each one is a miracle with the power to touch someone’s heart. 

If You Want to Become a Great Writer You Have to Be Willing to Do This.

If You Want to Become a Great Writer You Have to Be Willing to Do This.

by | Jun 1, 2021 | Slow Pieces Blog

How’s the querying? 

Family and friends ask this question with joyful expectation. Experienced writers are more subdued.

I’ve spent much of my life trying to appear competent while feeling terrified that I’m not smart enough or good enough. 

But I committed to being transparent about this process. If success came easy, it would inspire fellow writers. If I struggled, I’d model perseverance and the power of AGFOs (another fucking growth experience). 

So far, I’ve queried twenty-five agents. For those of you who’ve never done this, twenty-five is a small number. A few still haven’t acknowledged my email. Several requested additional pages. Six requested the full. Two of the six declined. I’m waiting to hear back from the other four. Requests for the full are always a good sign but they’re not a guarantee. While most agents will at least respond with a nice rejection, they can still ghost you. 

My rejections have been variations on the following theme: “You’re a talented writer with a compelling story, but I’m not sure how to sell this.” Often, these statements are coupled with phrases like I’m sure you’ll get an agent, or this is just one opinion.

Two agents sent more personalized responses. One was exceptionally generous, and while she passed, she told me to send her my next project. 

Rejections are always disappointing no matter how thick your skin. 

Two really stung. 

Agent one: “I’m sorry for your tough life. I’m sorry for your loss. I’m sorry for everything you’ve ever been through. But I don’t feel like this rises to the level of the universal.” 

I’m sure this agent (who read a partial) was trying to be kind, compassionate, and helpful, but the repeated apologies felt more like commentary on my brokenness than a critique of my project. 

And then there was The Doozy written by an agent who’d read the full. 

Agent two: “I really thought this would be more fully cooked. The first eleven pages were electric, but the story quickly fell apart. Put it away and work on something else.” This person said a couple of semi-nice things and probably believed their feedback was a gift. And really, all feedback—even the tough stuff—is a gift. 

What I heard: “Yep, your book sucks. And you call yourself an editor? Quit your project and your day job.”

Talk about a hot poker to my ego!  

Fortunately, I’ve been on a healing journey long enough to call bullshit on those shadow remarks. 

Here’s the truth: It’s easier to find flaws in someone else’s writing than to identify them in your own. As a writer, I’m in the trenches just like you. I get too close to my story or overly invested in certain things. Sometimes my impatience causes me to rush through the process, because damnit, I want to freaking publish this book. 

Part of the querying process is learning to decipher the meta-message embedded in agent responses so you can decide whether to query more or return to your manuscript. 

First, I had to tend to my wounds. 

I journaled about my feelings then checked in with mentors and query friends who listened, shared rejection tales, and cheered me on.

I returned to my “why” and made a list of things I loved about this book. I got clear about how this will help my readers and why I am willing to see this through.  

I checked in with beta readers and questioned whether something could be missing, read craft books including my advanced copy of Allison William’s soon-to-be-released masterpiece Seven Drafts: How to Self-Edit Like a Pro from Blank Page to Book. (Pre-order your copy STAT!)

In the Story Draft section, Allison shares the following exercise: Give a fresh reader pages 50 – 70 of your manuscript, but tell them it’s the beginning. After they read the excerpt, ask if anything’s missing. If their answer doesn’t refer to most of your first fifty pages, it’s likely they need to be scrapped.

As soon as I finished reading this exercise my stomach dropped past my toes. 

A few days later I received The Doozy. 

Once I regained my sense of self-worth, I knew I needed to see whether agents one and two had a point. So, I spent Memorial Day weekend at The Porches, a writing retreat in nearby Nelson County. I took a printed copy of my manuscript and Seven Drafts. 

In the three-act structure, act one is the place where you establish your ordinary world, or the world the narrator inhabited before something launches their journey. For many books, act one is around sixty pages. My first fifty pages established the world before my brother’s death. 

An invitation to join my husband’s heavy metal tour is the inciting incident that launches act two of my book. This event takes place three weeks after my brother’s death. 

As I reread the first seventy pages, it was clear some events were essential, but most could be condensed and repurposed as flashbacks. The ordinary world of my story was the grief-stricken first few weeks after my brother’s suicide. It was a world where some people die tragically, others behave erratically, and hope is a chip of soap sliding toward the bathtub drain. Rereading took me back to the drawing board, but it also showed me how close I am.

Querying, like most milestones in the writing life, is not a point of arrival, but an opportunity to test your creative experiment. 

Sometimes the results delight you. 

Other times, they launch another experiment.  

This doesn’t make you a fraud, a bad writer, or someone who should give up. 

So, how’s the querying? I’m persevering and so should you. 

What obstacles have you faced in your writing life? 

How have you picked yourself up when you felt like quitting?

Your projects are worth fighting for. Keep showing up and keep writing on. 

Too Much Plot or Character Arc? Rebalance Your Writing by Doing This.

Too Much Plot or Character Arc? Rebalance Your Writing by Doing This.

by | May 18, 2021 | Slow Pieces Blog

Yesterday, I read a Lit Hub essay by Lan Samantha Chang about the importance of protecting our inner worlds. We create from our inner worlds and promote through our outer world. As writers, we tend to focus on one or the other. The essay has inspired next month’s newsletter topic. This week, let’s explore another set of inner and outer experiences as we delve deeper into Donald Maass’s book, The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface.  

In last week’s newsletter, we explored Donald Maass’s thoughts on the inner and outer modes for writing your characters’ emotions. This week, we’ll look at your protagonist’s inner and outer journey. 

The outer journey is represented by the plot, which “holds up the novel’s structure like columns hold up a skyscraper.” But you need more than a series of columns to tell a great story. To give your plot a sense of depth and perspective, you need the “crosswise beams of the protagonist’s inner journey.” Plots reveal what happened. Inward journeys, or character arcs, give your plots their meaning.

It’s likely your stories tend more toward plot or character arc, but telling a powerful story requires you to master both. Focus too much on plot, and your story will feel superficial. Hang everything on the inward journey, and we’ll wonder what’s causing your character’s turmoil. 

Great stories swing from both poles. Characters do things that create inner struggles and then use those inner struggles to form actions that move the story forward. 

According to Maass, “human beings can be divided into two broad psychological categories or polarities: those who store tension and those who store energy…. People who store tension turn inward. They ponder, reflect, think, and feel. Those who store energy turn outward and prefer to go for a run or smack a ball with a stick.”  

Knowing your tendency toward energy or tension will help you understand what parts of a story are easy for you to create and what parts you must intentionally build. 

Between drafts, ask yourself the following questions: 

  1. Am I a person who tends to store tension or energy? 
  2. Which polarity have I written for my character? 
  3. After reading my draft, what do I need to include to balance the poles of the story’s inner and outer journey? 
  4. If I’m writing more about energy (action), what internal resources will help me explore the emotions behind my character’s actions? 
  5. If I’m stuck in my protagonist’s head, can I figure out what actions reveal my character’s angst and their reactions to the story’s conflict? 

If your draft is heavy on plot and light on introspection, it’s likely you’re failing to identify and capitalize on your scenes’ emotional beats—those pivotal moments where your protagonist ponders then responds to the conflict between what they want and what’s possible. If this is happening, step back and ask yourself what the story is about. For example, is this a story about loss, connection, or loneliness? 

Once you know your story, consider what part of this conflict your scene reveals. For example, maybe your character desperately wants to be seen as legitimate, and therefore worthy of love, just as Bone does in Dorothy Allison’s novel Bastard Out of Carolina.

In Allison’s novel, Bone is so hungry for her mother’s love, she’s willing to do anything to keep from upsetting her, even if it means enduring her stepfather Glen’s horrific abuse. 

After one beating, Bone is taken to see a doctor. An x-ray reveals her collar bone has fused into a lump, and her tailbone has broken. The doctor insists she tell him what happened. He slaps the headboard of her bed, demanding answers, as Bone watches her mother’s fingers grip the palm of her free hand. When Bone feels her mother’s “icy, but comforting fingers” on her back, she asks to be taken home, somehow knowing that to be loved she must keep her mother’s secrets. 

If you’ve set up shop in the narrator’s head, make something happen in the outer world. Maass says this is especially important if your characters are psychologically tormented. 

But, when exploring your inward journey, don’t just think about swinging from action to emotion. Think about how you can take the emotion you’re exploring and swing it to one of its poles. For example, “is there a point when self-awareness turns into self-confidence, or goodness hardens into self-righteousness?” 

Maass says, “Characters are most interesting when they’re inconvenient.” Characters filled with righteous anger might be easy to cheer for, but what if that righteous anger narrows to revenge? And what if that revenge morphs into torture?

Writing inconvenient characters can be uncomfortable because they require you to step beyond the bounds of what you normally write. But the payoff in terms of story is huge. Inconvenient characters explore territory we’re all hungry to examine. They say the uncomfortable yet true things lurking in our hearts and let us explore the forbidden.

As you prepare for bigger story payoffs, send me your answers to the following questions:  


Do you typically write about energy or tension? 
What would help you write about the opposite polarity? 
Which inconvenient characters are the hardest to write about? 

Using Donald Maass’s Inner, Outer, and Other Modes Will Help You Crack the Code on Writing about Emotions

Using Donald Maass’s Inner, Outer, and Other Modes Will Help You Crack the Code on Writing about Emotions

by | May 11, 2021 | Slow Pieces Blog

Last Saturday, I spent an hour in a sensory deprivation tank filled with body temperature water and 800 pounds of Epsom salts. 

After my session, someone asked, “Did you spend some time on the astral plane?”

Grinning, I replied, “Why yes I most certainly did.” 

If you’d like a comic look at the range of experiences people have while in these tanks, check out this clip from the Big Bang Theory. 

For the record, all of my sensory deprivation tank experiences have thankfully been like Sheldon’s. 

Separating myself from the world’s constant sensory assault gave me a chance to recharge. Afterward, I was keenly aware of the ways inward feelings, outer expressions, and our exchanges with others impact the way we experience the world.

All of this aligned perfectly with the inner, outer, and other modes of writing Donald Maass talks about in The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface.

When using the outer mode, we show emotions through our characters’ actions and the subtext embedded in their interactions.

Donald says, “Action is an opportunity for us to feel something, not a cause of feeling something.”

To illustrate this point, he uses an example from The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick. Upon release from a psychiatric facility, our protagonist, Pat, must meet with his outpatient psychiatrist. As he waits for someone to call his name, Kenny G plays on the office sound system. Unable to take one more note from that “evil bright soprano saxophone,” he topples the waiting-room furniture. 

Maass encourages writers to keep their stories within the reader’s zone of tolerance. He believes “the best way to deal with characters who are dark, tormented, suffering, or insane” is to show what’s happening externally rather than trapping readers in a character’s tortured internal monologue.

His advice: “When characters’ emotions are highly painful, pull back.”  

Quick maintains the zone of tolerance through humorous scenes that temper his characters’ pain. 

Writers can also show internal conditions and states of being. To do this, Maass shares Hemmingway’s advice: “Find what gave you the emotion; what the action was that gave you the excitement. Then write it down and make it clear so the reader will see it too and have the same feeling you had.” 

The inner mode is where we tell feelings. This equally important part of storytelling must be skillfully executed; however, feelings are often overwritten. Maass says to watch out for overwrought phrases like “his guts twisted with fear” or “her eyes shot daggers at him.” 

Instead, focus on unexpected emotions your characters could have. Often, these emotions exist underneath the surface or beyond the safety of what you typically write. 

Ray Bradbury explores this in Fahrenheit 451, a novel about a futuristic fireman named Guy Montag who makes a living by burning books. A recent experience causes Guy to question his profession. During the next scheduled burn, he takes a book from the house just before it’s doused with kerosene. The owner is told to leave but she refuses. 

As the house burns, we would expect Guy to fear for the homeowner or become overwhelmed by the horror he’s witnessing. But Bradbury gives Guy an unexpected emotion—excitement. 

Unexpected emotions can be used to create reversals from what readers expect. To do this well, familiarize yourself with both primary and secondary emotions and how they play out in human experiences. 

Writers bring their skills to Maass’s inner and outer modes. His other mode belongs to the reader. It includes their unique emotional reactions. 

Readers expect to have a positive experience when reading, but they also want to be challenged. 

So how do you effectively challenge the reader? 

Create novel situations that make readers confront their assumptions and beliefs in such a way that they need to chew on the story to work out its meaning. 

Maass calls this the chewing effect and says, “it makes stories more memorable because readers who chew on stories spend more time with them.”

Another way to create the chewing effect is to go cold during an emotionally intense scene. To go cold, you show your characters’ actions without sharing their emotional responses. You can also do this by sharing emotional responses that conflict with readers’ expectations. 

Jeanette Walls achieves this early in The Glass Castle when she shows her father’s hot-headed behavior while expressing total admiration for him. The incongruence between how the characters behave and how young Jeanette feels makes readers fear for her safety.

To learn more about the power of going cold, check out this essay by Dylan Landis.

So, what helps you understand your character’s emotions? 

What strategies do you use for exploring their inner and outer modes of expression? 

What challenges do you face? Send me an email. 

Your answers might lead to a future blog post. 

Answering This One Weird Question Will Help You Build Better Characters

Answering This One Weird Question Will Help You Build Better Characters

by | May 4, 2021 | Slow Pieces Blog

Two weeks ago, I started a class where the instructor asked the following question:

What if you were The One?

Like many people, I squirmed in my chair. The One? Seriously? 

Sensing our discomfort, he asked us each to list the ways we’re already the ones making a difference in another person’s life.

The one who feeds the cats. 
The one who tucks the kids into bed. 
The one who visits a mother in a nursing home. 
The one who writes stories that make people feel less alone.

After we created our lists, he returned to his original question.

If you were The One, and nothing and no one was against you, how would you live your life?

What would you allow yourself to do?

Maybe these questions sound arrogant or absurd. But he’s not the first person to entertain these ideas.

American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham is famously quoted as saying the following to her students:

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” 

If you were The One, would you feel more alive?

Would you allow yourself to be a channel not just for your stories but for the emotions that enrich them?

In the Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface, Maass says, “how characters experience their story determines how readers experience a novel (or memoir).”  Like it or not, “you reveal your inner self right away.”

He says a writer’s positivity—or lack of it—gets transmitted into their work. Slush piles are filled with misery-laden manuscripts that only go from bad to worse—if they go anywhere at all.

“Cynical writing tries too hard.”

To write well, Maass encourages writers to cultivate a sense of positivity or indomitable resilience that provides a life force for your character’s journey.  This positivity encompasses the best of you—your nerve, your drive, your sense of hope.

This isn’t about writing Pollyanna characters and cheerful plotlines.

Maass uses Ben H. Winter’s novel The Last Policeman to illustrate the kind of positivity he’s referring to. This novel is about an asteroid named Maia that’s six months away from colliding with the earth. Society is collapsing. There are bankruptcies and price controls. Guns have been outlawed. Religious mania and suicides are up. But even as life unravels, one gritty cop, Hank Pike, tries to solve the latest crime. His colleagues think he’s crazy. Who cares if the most recent death is a suicide or a murder? Hank does, and he’s determined to find out what really happened.

That desire to get the job done in the face of worldwide calamity is the positivity Maass is talking about.

And doesn’t this definition fit for the writing life too?

Writing well requires us to muscle through countless drafts, rejections, and near-constant ambiguity and uncertainty.

Yet, we continue to write.

To keep doing this, some small part of us must believe we’re The One with the positivity required to write something important.

If this is true, what would it take to believe that no one and nothing is against you?

What would you need to believe or do to see every hardship as a lesson, every setback as a gift, every loss as the beginning of something new?

Does it sound like I’ve hopped on board the bullshit train and started to blow its horn?

Do you wish you were onboard too?

All I ask is that you figure out what you believe and then ask yourself the following questions:

How are my answers working for me?
Do they give me courage?
Are they helping me create characters that persevere, even when their worlds collapse around them?

And, if these questions feel too big, try this one:

When are you the one who makes a difference in someone’s life? 

Don’t be afraid to recognize your contributions to the world.

Instead, use them to sustain your writing life, and as always, keep writing on.

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